I was out birding today at a location about half a mile from the freezing Pacific Ocean - the temperature was in the low 60s, the wind was blowing at a constant 20-30 mph, and the only shelter around was low bushes... I'd never seen any reptiles there before, and especially today the thought of finding any sort of herp never even crossed my mind. But as I was walking down the sandy trail, I came across an old Coast Garter Snake so weathered and beaten I was certain he was dead and stepped-on a few times when I first spotted him.
Despite his decrepit appearance, as soon as the snake saw me he made a surprisingly quick dash to the nearest shrub. Luckily I was able to catch him, and then I was able to get a good look at all his "battle scars". This place is chock full of animals that would love to make a meal of a garter - corvids, raptors, bobcats, foxes, etc... So to see any sort of snake out here at all was very unexpected and exciting. And this snake looked like it had been living here for a long time, too - I don't know the maximum size of Coast Garters, but most of the ones I find are a lot smaller than this one (who appeared slightly under three feet in length) and not all scarred up.
I was dumbfounded about how and why this snake was out here in the wind and cold temperatures... Then I reached down and felt the sand the snake had half-buried himself in, and I'd say it was about 85-90 degrees on the surface. It makes me wonder - did snakes live out here before these trails were built? There are no other basking locations around here. The dirt, grass, shrubs are all cold to the touch, and the air temperature rarely gets above 72 degrees even in the summer. I'll be sure to watch the trail out there more closely from now on.
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)
